


the bottom of the glass

by porcelainsalt (bluedreaming)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Alternate Universe - Space, Community: writetomyheart, Game of Drarry: Monthly Challenge, Gen, Glass Slipper, Podfic Welcome, Tumblr: gameofdrarry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:22:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25780534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluedreaming/pseuds/porcelainsalt
Summary: Everything is coming to a collision point, especially the dull black ship that’s growing larger in the viewing window stretched out over the bridge.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Kudos: 5
Collections: Game of Drarry: Monthly Ficlet Challenge, write to my heart





	the bottom of the glass

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the Game of Drarry July [Trope Challenge](https://gameofdrarry.tumblr.com/post/190102825250/game-of-drarry-monthly-trope-challenge): [The Glass Slipper](https://gameofdrarry.tumblr.com/post/622292588708462592). I used [a rose is a rose is a rose is a rose](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_is_a_rose_is_a_rose_is_a_rose) from the prompt table.
> 
> Thanks so much to the Game of Drarry mod for being so kind about my delay—this ended up being so much more difficult for me to write than it should have been!

_Give up?_ Harry thinks as he slides his hand along the metal sheeting of the corridor wall. _Never._

The ship shudders. Harry catches himself against the hull, which feels all too fragile beneath his fingers. He still doesn’t know who disabled the locks remotely and shut off the vid-cams, but he’s not about to overthink it. If it’s a trap, everyone is already slipping off to the hangar to steal a ship, or better yet, some foci. If it’s not a trap, they have an unknown ally on the inside. Either way, he’ll make this work to their advantage.

* * *

_A person is a person is a person,_ Draco thinks, thumb worrying the sharp gem facets of his ring-shaped focus. Everything is coming to a collision point, especially the dull black ship that’s growing larger in the viewing window stretched out over the bridge.

“But do you think that—,” he hears his aunt mutter in the corner, poking at the controls and probably making a mess of the communications system. It doesn’t matter, though. He’s already disabled the vid-feeds from the brig, leaving them on looping footage of the prisoners.

He just needs to wait a little longer now.

* * *

There’s a terrible grating crunch, and Harry realises that another ship has just docked. It’s not a good sign. With his luck, it’s more likely to be Voldemort than another random ship of Snatchers. He’d be tempted to leg it back to the hangar, but he really doesn’t want to lose their things, including his invisibility cloak and the destroyed Horcruxes tucked in Hermione’s bag. Even if the bag has been disguised, it’s too much of a risk.

They’re hoping, somehow, that Voldemort hasn’t noticed their absence yet. _I doubt that will last if he finds them._ Harry keeps moving.

* * *

Waiting for Voldemort is both mind-numbingly dull and terrifying. Draco’s mind is whirling with possibilities. _I hope they have the good sense to keep well out of sight._ They will, though. He has to trust in Granger’s sensible intelligence and Weasley’s strategic capability. With prisoners to rescue, they won’t take unnecessary risks.

It’s Potter he’s worried about.

Draco’s attention shifts to the bridge, where everyone is standing at uneasy attention: errant schoolchildren waiting to be scolded. The anger and embarrassment swirl in a dangerous but ultimately useless mix.

 _Cowards,_ Draco thinks, but he knows he’s really thinking about himself.

* * *

Standing in the corridor outside the bridge, Harry stops to listen. He doesn’t hear much movement, just shifting, and the low sound of someone muttering. Peering around the doorway, he spots the disguised bag tossed on the floor next to a crate. No one seems to be paying much attention to it: everyone is facing the observation window. He decides to risk it.

Harry’s by the crate, bag in hand and about to make his way back to the safety of the corridor outside when he feels a chill run down his spine. Turning around, he meets Bellatrix Lestrange’s unhinged grin.

* * *

“Oh, ho, who do we have here?” Bellatrix cackles, and Draco feels the blood run cold in his veins. _No,_ he thinks, _this can’t happen._

Bellatrix is already reaching for her focus, the silver knife all too near at hand where it hangs from her belt.

“Dobby,” Draco whispers, working the ring off his finger.

Several things happen at once.

Dobby materialises with an ear-splitting crack, just as Bellatrix’s fingers wrap around the handle of the knife and Potter tucks the bag under one arm.

“Harry!” Draco shouts, tossing him the ring before Dobby grips his sleeve and they dematerialise.

* * *

The next few moments are chaos. There’s a crack as someone in the corner of the room disappears in a whirl of colour, just as a ring comes flying and almost hits Harry in the face. Bellatrix is shouting and rushing at him; it’s pure muscle memory that has Harry slipping the ring on his finger to send a Stunning Spell. It’s only after she stumbles and dodges that he realises the ring is actually a focus.

 _Who was that?_ Harry wonders, as he ducks a Reductor Curse and shoots off another Stunner. Behind him, he can hear metal of the walls buckling.

* * *

They rematerialise in the engine room, the ship’s core humming. Draco can feel the energy pulsing around him, beating against his skin. Raw magic.

He takes a deep breath. _People are people are people,_ he reminds himself as he slips his father’s focus out of his pocket, and slides the Malfoy signet ring onto his finger.

“Dobby, please warn the house-elves and ensure that Harry Potter and the prisoners get off the ship safely,” he asks. Dobby’s eyes are large but determined as he dematerialises. 

Draco sets an Anti-Disapparation Jinx and then casts Fiendfyre. And then he starts running.

* * *

Harry’s finally managed to land an Impediment Curse on Bellatrix, dodging a Cruciatus Curse from another Death Eater and angling for the door when his scar starts to throb. 

_Not now,_ he thinks, but he’s already turning around to face Voldemort in the doorway, focus-wearing hand lifting through the air to...do what? Harry’s not even sure.

There’s another loud crack, and small fingers close around his leg. Harry doesn’t even have time to wonder what’s happening before he and Dobby rematerialise in a sleek shuttle, an unfamiliar house-elf at the helm.

“Thank goodness!” Hermione exclaims as the engines engage.

* * *

The ship looks normal at first, the clean lines cold and familiar against the vast emptiness of space. Voldemort’s repellant coil of a spacecraft hangs on one port like a parasite. 

Suddenly, a tiny shuttle is ejected from the hangar doors, speeding away from the ship, and Draco feels his shoulders unclench just a little as he waits.

Slowly but surely, a warm glow spreads across the surface, fire blooming over the hull as the ship is engulfed in Fiendfyre.

Draco nods, reaching for the autopilot, and leaves his family home behind him as his shuttle dips around a moon.

**Author's Note:**

> This title of this story is from the poem [Pahar](https://www.poetryinternational.org/pi/poem/19334/auto/0/0/Ion-Murean/GLASS) by Ion Mureşan, as translated by Alistair Ian Blyth.
> 
> I also drew much inspiration from my writing playlist, [my heart bleeds stars](https://open.spotify.com/user/haikui020593/playlist/6JJ2MuopfHmY5MsYFGG8YE?si=T8CeBbVWTPGXH4DZUdwWuQ).
> 
> The first segment of this was also posted for [shiritori](https://writetomyheart.livejournal.com/1003184.html) (under the working title _a lack of roses_ ).
> 
> My [Blanket Statement](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5678194).


End file.
